Tag: wednesdaywrites

Fanfiction.

You either love it or you hate it. There’s really no in between. Fanfiction can be good for a lot of things:

Tying up loose ends that weren’t solved in the book (or movie, TV series etc)

Exploring subplots that you didn’t get to see happen

Exploring the stories of other characters, whom you might have loved, but not gotten enough of them

Even just cheering yourself up about a really good series, book, TV show, or movie being over.

But there’s a lot about fanfiction to consider when you’re a writer. As a reader and writer I personally LOVE fanfiction. Some people would argue that writing fanfiction as a writer is detrimental to your own original work. And in some ways they’re right. Today’s post is the Pros and Cons of writing fanfiction.

PROS

You get to write things the way you wanted them to turn out exactly the way you want it to be.

You’re working with a world and characters that have already been developed. In this case it helps me when I’m writers blocked. I don’t have to worry about creating characters nor developing any worlds I just get to write without worrying too much about those details.

Alternately, you can use the characters in a different world. Or the world with different characters. The options are endless when you want to practice techniques.

Did I mention practice? It’s really good for practice. (Can you tell I’m the kind of person who likes to practice things lol)

CONS

Sometimes you get too sucked into the story line or the characters that you lose sight of how to be original. It becomes a crutch. You can’t handle creating your own world so you borrow from one that’s already been made, or you all you’re really in love with a character that you can’t bear for them not to be in what you write.

You can’t come up with your own ideas. I know that ties in with being original, but in a way it’s different. Nothing anymore is completely original as there are many, many slightly different versions to the princess being rescued by the prince among other plots. BUT a good writer should be able to put a cool, original spin on a plot that’s been done many times over. Writing fanfiction too long sometimes affects your ability to come up with those twists that make your story stand out from others.

All your characters turn out same-y. Like with plot bunnies. Sometimes you return to writing original work and when you read it back you realize that your MC turns out to be a little too much like your favorite character.

You get so used to writing fanfiction that you don’t want to write anything original. When you’re feeling lazy you just want to write stuff that’s all developed already (not to be confused with not being able to be write original things with not wanting to write original things because it’s easier to write fanfiction)

I will admit to being addicted to writing fanfiction. Some months I find myself only writing fanfiction. But the reason I want to be a writer is because I enjoy writing. And I know there are times when you just have to force yourself to write, but a majority of the time I tend to not want to force myself to write so I more often than not these days end up writing fanfiction.

For me the pros outweigh the cons. I still need a lot of practice and for me, I find that fanfiction is what helps best. It may not be the best practice, but everyone has their own opinions. I really enjoy the idea of expanding on a world, giving it a twist to make it somewhat your own.

Do you like fanfiction? Do you write fanfiction? To you do you think that the pros outweigh the cons?

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So a few weeks ago for #WednesdayWrites you may or may not know that I wrote a short piece for the Final Task of Mahriya from My Bookish Life’s Typewriter Project. I enjoyed it so much and it was good practice so I ended up continuing to write it.

Kaern stared him down, unflinching. He was right. He was being a terrible leader to Parker. A good leader wouldn’t leave Parker behind. Whether he was dead or not, he owed it to the younger boy and his family to at least try and bring him back. Jin could see that whether or not he agreed, Kaern would be marching to the city below to find Parker. Though he would much prefer that all of them went together.

“Well?”

Did he even really need to think about it? Parker was essential to the team’s dynamic. With all of the time they’d spent training together, living together for years it almost seemed wrong to call them a team. They were a family. He couldn’t really live if Parker was left behind. Good leader in the eyes of the officials or not, he couldn’t leave Parker behind. Denying it was next to useless.

Finally he spoke, “You understand what happens if we get caught right?”

“Does that even matter?” Mathieu questioned beating Kaern to the punch, “We can’t just leave Parker down there.”

Jin shook his head, “No. We can’t.” he met each of their gazes for a moment, “But we’ll all be the ones paying for it if we get caught.”

“Then we just won’t get caught,” If only it were that simple. Jin tried to smile at Jakob’s optimism, as he watched a puppy like smile erupt on the blonde’s face.

Jin nodded shortly, “Pack up. I want to be out by sunset at the latest. Being in the city after dark means death.”

With an unexplained rush of energy the younger three packed the equipment up in a hurry. Jin turned and glared down at the city once more. Parker you’d better be okay. Keep your damn promise and just stay alive.

“Alright, Kaern I need the coordinates of the last location from Parker’s tracker before we lost connection. We’ll start from there and fan out in groups of two. Communicators are to be on at all times and there is absolutely no wandering off alone.” Jin instructed as they took the truck down the rough dirt path, towards the edge of the city.

“On it.” Kaern replied from the back, sounding infinitely more receptive to Jin than he had been earlier.

“Don’t discharge your weapons unless absolutely necessary. I want to find Parker and get out. Do not engage unless you are fired at first. Are we clear?”

The resounding, eager, “yes!” echoed throughout the confined space, ensuring that all three had heard him. With each passing second he could feel his worry for Parker overtaking his worry at going against protocol. It was easier to push any opposing thoughts from his head as they drew closer to the city. When the engine cut off he glanced towards Mathieu, who sat in the driver’s seat. From the younger man he received an encouraging nod before he turned and clambered out from the car.

“His last known location was this way.” Kaern said, climbing over the torn down wire fence, and pointing to the East.

“Alright we’ll split off when we reach that point. Jakob go with Kaern, Mathieu with me.”

There was no hesitation in his stride this time as he stepped over the fence and started in the direction Kaern pointed to. Broken chunks of concrete crunching beneath their boots was the only sound they heard aside from the whistle of the wind snaking around them. All four pairs of eyes scanned the rubble in search of Parker or a sign that something was amiss, but all they found was the remnants of the destroyed city.

“Verlaine* used to be pretty.” Jin muttered, staring at the shattered display windows and shards of glass that littered their path.

“Over there.” Kaern called out suddenly. The other three snapped to attention. He was pointing down at the wreckage of what looked like a car pileup. It’d probably happened during the clamour to escape the city just before it fell.

“Do you see something?” Jin asked striding to where Kaern stood.

“His tracker.” Kaern replied, hooking the locator device on his belt before grabbing hold of the edge of a large piece of concrete that’d be uprooted and lowering himself down the steep hill. One by one they followed after him. Kaern crouched in front of the broken tracker scoffing lightly under his breath. There was a large crack along the glass. It was broken. That explained why his earlier efforts to connect with it had been without result.

“He must have lost it.” Mathieu spoke up, tugging Kaern back from his thoughts. Picking it up he straightened out and handed it to Jin to look at.

“It’s broken too, which explains why I couldn’t get to it before.”

“Should have just attached one that he couldn’t lose to him.” Jin muttered under his breath, examining the broken device before shoving it into his bag, ignoring the other three’s snickers of agreement.

“Mathieu, you and I will go east. Jakob, you and Kaern take west. We’ll meet back here an hour before sunset whether or not we’ve found him. That should give us enough time to get clear of the city.”

All business, he made sure to impress a firm glare to each of the remaining members of his team. He needed them to understand the severity of his words. He’d lost one of the most important people to him already he wasn’t about to lose anymore.

Variations of ‘yep’ and ‘you got it boss’ were tossed around before he was left standing next to Mathieu, the second youngest.

“Should we go now?” Mathieu questioned, making Jin pull his eyes away from the pair of retreating backs to look at him. With a short nod they headed in the opposite direction of the other pair, falling into step together.

*Verlaine is just the name of a fictional city. I picked at random don’t ask lol

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I’m not going to be the first bookworm to state that Fantasy is my absolute favorite genre to read (and write). That’s not to say that every cute lil bookworm is going to agree with me, but let’s face it. Fantasy has got to be THE best genre to read, when done right of course. There is SO much to discover, to experience, to love about this genre. I’ll make my intro brief. Today’s #WednesdayWrites is my top 3 reasons why Fantasy is my favorite genre to read and write!

1. The only limit to possibilities is your imagination

Think about it. You’re reading (or creating) a world that has an infinite number of possibilities. Anything is fair game okay? You could have people with purple skin and spikes protruding out of their backs. You could have a world where the sky is made of water and everyone walks in air. Volcanoes could spit out snow and talking plants could be normal.

Anything. Literally anything could be real in worlds of fantasy even if they’re not plausible in our world. (Let’s face it. Who wouldn’t want to be creator of a whole entire world???)

2. It’s a way to escape

Without trying to sound like I’m making this about myself and be all boohoo pity me, my childhood was (though not a bad one) hard to get through. We didn’t go out much and with money being kinda tight I had to adapt to not having everything that everyone else had. (Talk about first world problems wow geez!).

Anyways reading things set in the real world just felt for lack of a better word bleh. Fantasy books filled with adventure, creatures that didn’t exist except in those new worlds created by the author, that was what I craved. Something far beyond the reach of my reality.

For those hours I sat down to read I could escape from stress, emotions (my own that I didn’t want to face) and just about anything normal kids wanted to avoid because it was just emotionally exhausting. TLDR? Fantasy = Escape.

3. Magic. M – A – G – I – C ! and also wonder.

What would we be without Magic? Harry Potter-less is what we would be!!

Okay yes this sort of goes back to the first point, where I told you ANYTHING was possible in the Fantasy Genre. But listen. Just hear me out. This is a veRY good point and I feel like it needed it’s on bullet point to fully get across to you the feels that I have about magic and wonder.

Magic gives me this childlike wonder as an adult. One that you can’t get anywhere else. And the kinds of possibilities that come with the idea of magic are endless…

Okaay so maybe I didn’t have a WHOLE lot to say about why magic is one of my top 3 reasons why Fantasy is my favorite genre, but some things you just can’t explain, sometimes you just find something and it changes your whole perspective on life. That’s what fantasy, what magic did for me.

Do you also like fantasy books? What is your favorite genre? What are your top reasons for picking that favorite genre?

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It was such a pleasure to participate in Mahriya’s Typewriter Project! Although I’m sad that it’s come to an end I’ve had a lot of fun and learned so much. I really enjoyed it.

I thought I’d post my entry for the final task as I was particularly proud of it. I’m not very good at dystopian or post apocalyptic types of stories so I wanted to dabble a little bit and this was the result!

Leaders were meant to call the shots. Even if sometimes those shots felt wrong; they were meant to be given whether they were difficult or not. Still, as Jin stood at the top of the ridge staring out at the burning city he couldn’t help, but feel regret for the decisions he’d made earlier that day.

The only sign of movement were the slow moving flames as they licked their way from building to building slowly but surely engulfing the rubble below. He shouldn’t have sent Parker. He had a bad feeling. There was something wrong.

There was always something wrong, that was a given in their world now, but something about this particular moment just felt wholly wrong. It was necessary, he had to remind himself. Parker was the youngest, and the fastest of the five of them and knew how to slip around in the shadows. If any one of his team was to go it would be Parker.

“Anything?” He called out to the others his voice controlled, but his nerves fracturing at every angle. He didn’t for a moment tear his eyes away from the city, stupidly, feverishly hoping he could catch a glimpse of their youngest member.

“Still no direct contact. Kaern is working on re-establishing the GPS to get his location.” Mathieu replied worry biting into his tone.

“He’s fine.” Jin muttered loudly, hands balled tightly into fists. Though his voice held strong, his eyes held a different story. He had meant to reassure the others, but at that moment he was almost one hundred percent certain that it was him who needed reassurance.

Gnawing on his lower lip he squinted at the bright red and orange flames until his eyes hurt. Come on Parker. Where are you?

“Don’t you think we should go in after him?” Jakob stood off to his left, communicator dangling limply in one hand. It proved to be useless since they’d lost connection with Parker twenty minutes ago. Any efforts to reach their youngest member since then had been fruitless.

“We need to trust him. Parker’s capable. He can do this.”

His thoughts were the complete opposite of his words. It wasn’t that Jin didn’t believe in Parker’s abilities, it was the worry gnawing away at him. The fear that Parker wouldn’t come back, that he may never see the younger man again, that’s what was causing the panic that was blooming in his chest and circling around in his thoughts.

“And what if he can’t?” Jakob’s words cracked out flat like a whip.

It was blatantly obvious that Jakob didn’t think that they should just be sitting on their asses just waiting. Not at the possibility that one of their own was alone in the city, bleeding out somewhere or dead or worse captured. Jin knew that Jakob was right. He was going against every fibre in his being, not giving the order to head into the city, but as a leader he couldn’t risk the rest of the team. It was against regulations, he’d be breaking laws by allowing the others to go off in search of their youngest.

For the first time Jin pulled his gaze away the rubble of the broken city. His eyes met Jakob’s pained ones, before pressing on and looking towards the other two as well. Similar expressions painted all their faces. It was obvious the other two agreed with Jakob. They wanted to go after Parker. Their loyalty to each other ran deep, and the look on their faces made it clear that they would go after him, even if it meant going against protocol.

“Don’t pretend like you’re not worried Jin. We know that you, of all people care most about Parker returning.”

“It’s not that simple. And you know it,” he replied voice soft, and filled with defeat. He had to be a good leader. He had to protect the rest, and stick to protocol even if it meant losing someone as precious to him as Parker. Just do it. You can do it without them knowing. The four of you can go in, find Parker and get out. No one would be the wiser.

“We shouldn’t have sent him alone in the first place. But not going after him when he could be hurt or dead or captured? Does that make you a good leader Jin?” Kaern stepped forward, throwing the GPS tracker at the dirt, “That’s what you’re obsessed with isn’t it? Being a good leader?”

A bitter mocking laugh left Kaern’s lips, as Mathieu placed a hand on his arm, quietly cautioning him of his place. It was promptly ignored and Kaern stalked towards his leader with an angry defiant look swirling in his eyes.

“To whose standards are you trying to be a good leader? The higher ups? You want a raise? A promotion? More recognition? You want to look good for them?”

“Kaern.” Mathieu’s low warning fell to deaf ears. Jin stood stock still, frozen in place by the accusatory statements thrown in his face. It wasn’t easy. He wanted to go into the city, to give the order so they could go find their seemingly lost member. But if they were caught all of them would face the consequences. And he couldn’t risk that happening to them.

“He’s right. We should be going to look for Parker.” Jakob broke through the tension rising.

“You don’t understand-” “No you don’t understand.”

Kaern interrupted, “How you look to the higher ups shouldn’t even matter to you. You should be worrying about being a good leader to Parker and to the rest of us. A good leader wouldn’t leave Parker behind.”

Like this:

Bus rides. Never something she was particularly fond of. Especially not in the winter. Going from the suffocating heat of a cramped bus, to the chilly walk home from the stop wasn’t something she normally enjoyed. Until it was. It definitely wasn’t the snow that seemed to seep into her boots no matter how tall they were, or the cold wind that made her fingers feel frozen enough to snap off, that made the change– but the short period of time when they were alone together. Those dark nights walking home after getting off the late bus from class became the highlight of her week because of him. At first she didn’t notice him until she got off the bus and noticed someone behind her. Someone familiar. She blinked, momentarily confused as he walked around her, glancing her way before crunching through the snow to get to the sidewalk.

‘He’s in my class’ she realized belatedly. He took this bus? Since when? She thought she knew all her classmates who took the same bus as her.

She headed after him, eyes to the ground to avoid slipping on ice she didn’t notice, only taking the risk to peek up at him curiously.

She knew next to nothing about him. Just his name and that he sat up at the front. When they reached the intersection he turned and nodded at her before walking in the opposite direction of her house. Mild disappointment flitted through her. The light turned green and she crossed, still glancing back, watching him tread further away. He looked backwards and with a squeak she turned her head away in case she got caught looking. When she looked again he’d taken off in a run disappearing down the street until she couldn’t see him anymore.

They didn’t acknowledge each other in class. It wasn’t as if they really had a reason to, anyways. She sat in the back and he sat in the front. They both had their own set of friends so what reason would there be? But once a week after their late class got out they’d get off the bus together and she’d hurry to catch up to him, hoping he’d notice her. Part of her wanted to say something, but what could she say? She knew nothing about him, they didn’t talk and the only thing they had in common was their program.

She’d always hurry her pace since he walked fast (or maybe he just had longer legs), hoping he’d speak first. It felt a bit awkward walking just behind him, but a dash of awkward and a lot of shy made it hard for her to say anything. Naturally, she didn’t say anything and neither did he.

But after a few weeks she couldn’t hold back anymore. When they got off the bus that night she’d say something to him. Anything. Why not. She had to make friends somehow right?

Turns out she didn’t need to though. Because when they reached the intersection that night. He turned to her and smiled. She stood there a bit confused, but at the same time trying hard not to smile back. Cute.

“See you tomorrow. That is… if you decide not to skip class.” he said giving her wry smile.

He’d just made it so easy for her. Relief flooded through her. It was always easier for her to speak after the conversation had been started. But then she realized belatedly that he’d been waiting for her to respond. Oops.

“It’s CICS. CICS is boring. What’s the point in going? It’s not like we learn anything anyways.”

He tsked as if disappointed, but she could see the smile that spread across his face again. He had such a sweet sort of goofy smile.

“Besides. I’m going to Toronto tomorrow.” Even as the words left her mouth she found herself wanting to switch her plans and go to class. But she’d already promised her friend she’d go and she wasn’t about to cancel her plans even to see that smile again.

It wasn’t like he spoke to her in class anyways, she thought the next day on the train. That thought left a bit of a bad taste in her mouth. She wanted to get to know him better, but she wasn’t sure how to. At school he was always with his friends at the front and always left in what seemed like a hurry so how was she supposed to approach him except any place but during their short time at the bus stop? Biting her lower lip she stared out the window at the cloudy, but thankfully not snow filled sky. She should go skating again before classes started to pick up their pace.

Maybe she could ask him if he wanted to go skating with her. Then again she couldn’t just ask him suddenly if he wanted to go skating with her. That would be weird. They barely talked so suddenly asking him to hang out would seem really weird. Agh. Why was talking to boys so hard? Stupid boys.

Her phone buzzed loudly in her pocket and glancing around apologetically she answered her phone.

“Yoo.”

“Oh hey I’m on the train. Your stop is next are you at the station?” she asked.

“Yeah I’m waiting on the platform now. What car are you in?”

“The accessibility car top floor. See you soon?”

“Yuup.”

They hung up. Brendan wasn’t really much for talking or maybe he was just as awkward as she was. They got along well enough. She couldn’t remember who had asked who into Toronto, but she did know that he wanted to get some new clothes and had figured since she was a girl she’d be able to help. And truthfully any excuse to go into Toronto was good enough for her. She loved the city yet the farther she got away from the school the more she wanted to go back to it.

Maybe she and Brendan could shop in the morning and pick something up and then head to the school in time for their last class. Yeah that was a good plan. She’d have to bring it up to him when he got on the train. Brendan wasn’t really much for class, but there was a test coming up so she knew she’d be able to successfully convince him that going to class would be a good idea.

She reached the first class scheduled that day with twenty minutes left to go, in the middle of the lecture. The lights were off and the professor was speaking about something she wouldn’t really listen to and would just review on her own later on. When she opened the door, face flushed from the cold and chest full of butterflies, she found that she’d rushed back for nothing. The front row where he normally sat was empty, save for one of his friends who didn’t look up from his computer. What was his name? She couldn’t remember. She wasn’t sure if she cared. She cared about the disappointment that slid over her as the professor thanked her for gracing them with her presence. Too absorbed in her disappointment to be embarrassed, she took her seat with the scattered few of her friends who had decided to show up for this class and pulled out her laptop.

She didn’t really see much of a point to staying for CICS, but one of her friends wanted to talk to her about a partner assignment and get some help with another class so she stayed. And lucky for her that she did. Because just after the CICS professor walked in, so did he.

“What are you smiling at?” Andrew, her friend, asked her.

“Huh?” she turned to her left to see him smirking at her.

“What are you smiling at?” he repeated. Face burning in a blush she fixed her gaze on her computer screen.

“Nothing just a Korean thing.” she replied dismissively hoping he’d let it drop.

He leaned towards her and through her peripherals she could see him grinning that stupid I know you’re lying grin. “Uhuh.”

“Fuck off.” she muttered peering over the top of her screen in hopes that she’d make eye contact with him. No such luck. But at least she could take satisfaction in the knowledge that they would be able to talk when they got off the bus. And once again she was eager for class to be over.

AN: I decided to write out how my boyfriend and I met and started talking to each other for this week’s Wednesday writes.

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I was actually a little sceptical of the idea of character journals at first. I came across the idea while on Youtube, binge watching journal flip throughs and I wasn’t 100% sold on the idea until I ended up writer’s blocked and stuck on a Harry Potter au I had begun to develop.

I sat at my laptop for three days, document open and cursor blinking on a blank page. No progress, I was getting nowhere with the idea I had, but was too invested in the idea to give up on it. So really I had nothing to lose. If it didn’t work out or I wasn’t fond of the process I had no obligation to continue. So I picked up a mostly empty notebook and my favorite Muji pen and started writing. It’s funny, I spent three days staring at a blank screen, mind completely unable to push one word out, but when I started writing that character journal it all came pouring out.

So what did I write? What is a character journal. It’s exactly what it sounds like, a journal written from the point of view of a character.

My first character journal (which I’m incredibly fond of and am still developing currently) was for my character Estella Diggory and it started from her first year at Hogwarts. Character development is not what I’d consider one of my strong points, so being able to delve into her world through journaling was really helpful. I worried about writing down dates and matching the timelines up correctly, but the more I just let myself write the better things came out. I made notes in the margins of the pages if I needed to switch journal entries around and eventually I started writing little snippets of the story along with the journal entries if there was something, in particular, I had in mind while writing that entry (ie snippets of dialogue, some event or action I wanted to write in the story and didn’t want to forget).

Not only did it help me with her character development, but it helped give me a skeleton for the timeline of the story (though I already help with this one since it was for fanfiction), and it really helped me fill in details for the plot. Not only that it was really great for helping me develop the story’s universe. I know that JK Rowling already laid down the basis, for that with regards to my first character journal, but the thing about her books was it was told from a very singular point of view and it was great to expand the view of such a beautiful world of magic and to see the events that took place through someone else’s eyes. But I’m getting off topic here! That’s a whole other discussion I’d love to get into later.

I definitely recommend trying out writing character journals. It’s really fun and a story in itself really. I take my character journal everywhere with me at the moment. Even when I’m cooking I like to work on it.

Have you ever tried character journaling before? What are your favorite ways to